HER MAJESTY, by and with
the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, enacts as
follows:

Definitions

1 In this Act,

(a) “inn”
means a place of which the innkeeper is the keeper;

(b) “innkeeper”
means a person who is by law responsible for the property of the innkeeper’s
guests and includes a keeper of a hotel, motel, auto court, cabin or other
place or house who holds out that to the extent of the innkeeper’s available
accommodation the innkeeper will provide lodging to any person who presents
himself or herself as a guest, who appears able and willing to pay a reasonable
sum for the services and facilities offered and who is in a fit state to be
received;

(c) “peace
officer” means a member of a municipal police service, a member of the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police, or a peace officer appointed under the Peace
Officer Act for the purposes of this Act;

(d) “vehicle” includes
a motor vehicle within the meaning of the Traffic Safety Act, a horse
and carriage and chattels used in connection with a vehicle.

RSA 2000 cI‑2
s1;RSA 2000 cT‑6 s200;
2006 cP‑3.5 s37

Right to detain personal
effects

2(1) An inn, boarding house or lodging house keeper

(a) may
detain on the keeper’s premises the trunks and other personal property of a
person who is indebted to the keeper for board and lodging, or either of them,
and

(b) is
responsible for the safekeeping of the trunks or other personal property
detained by the keeper.

(2) If the charges for board and
lodging, or either of them, remain unpaid for one month after the beginning of
the detention of the trunks or other personal property, the inn, boarding house
or lodging house keeper has, in addition to all other remedies provided by law,
the right to sell by public auction the trunks and other personal property, on
publishing once in a local newspaper at least one week before the intended sale
a notice of the intended sale, stating

(a) the
name of the person indebted for board and lodging, or either of them,

(b) the
amount of the indebtedness,

(c) a
description of the property to be sold,

(d) the
time and place of sale, and

(e) the name of the
auctioneer.

RSA 1980 cI‑4 s2

Proceeds of sale

3(1) The inn, boarding house or lodging house keeper

(a) may
apply the proceeds of the sale in payment of the indebtedness and the cost of
the advertising and sale, and

(b) shall
pay over the surplus proceeds, if any, to the person entitled to it on
application being made by that person for the surplus.

(2) If an application for the surplus
proceeds is not forthwith made, the inn, boarding house or lodging house keeper
shall immediately pay the surplus to the Minister to be kept by the Minister
for one year on behalf of the owner, after which time, if the amount so kept
has not been claimed under subsection (3), the surplus forms part of the
General Revenue Fund.

(3) The Minister

(a) may
entertain an application, verified by affidavit as the Minister requires, by
the owner of or by mortgagee of the personal property sold by public auction
pursuant to this Act or by any creditor of the owner of the personal property,
and may in the Minister’s discretion pay all or a portion of the surplus
proceeds of the sale to the owner, mortgagee or creditor who appears entitled,
or

(b) may
informally refer an application to a judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench.

(4) The judge to whom the matter is
referred

(a) may,
if there is more than one claimant, direct interpleader proceedings to be
taken, or

(b) may,
in any case, and on the production of any evidence that the judge considers
necessary, make any order that seems just to the judge.

(5) Notwithstanding subsections (3) and
(4), the creditors shall be paid according to their priorities.

(6) The order referred to in subsection
(4) is sufficient authority for the Minister to pay out according to the terms
of the order any surplus proceeds in the Minister’s possession.

(7) In
this section, “Minister” means the Minister determined under section 16 of the Government
Organization Act as the Minister responsible for this Act.

RSA 2000 cI‑2
s3;2006 c23 s44

Disputed claims

4(1) If a dispute arises between any inn, boarding house or
lodging house keeper and a lodger or guest with regard to the amount claimed
from the lodger or guest by the keeper for board or lodging, or both, the
lodger or guest

(a) may
pay into the office of the clerk of the Court of Queen’s Bench the amount of
the claim together with a further sum by way of security for costs amounting to
either 10% of the amount of the claim or $10, whichever sum is the greater, and

(b) shall,
after making that payment, serve notice in writing on the keeper or the
keeper’s manager or clerk that the lodger or guest has paid that amount into
Court.

(2) If within 30 days after the receipt
of the notice the keeper commences an action against the lodger or guest for
the recovery of the amount of the keeper’s claim, the sum so paid into Court
shall not be paid out until the action is disposed of and then the sum shall be
paid out in the manner that the Court orders.

(3) If the action is not commenced
within the period of 30 days after the receipt of the notice, the clerk of the
Court shall pay out the sum so paid into Court to the lodger or guest who paid
it into Court or to any person authorized in writing by the lodger or guest to
receive the payment.

(4) All
the rights of the keeper with respect to the trunks and other personal property
of the lodger or guest cease on and after the service on the keeper of the
notice of payment into Court.

RSA 1980 cI‑4 s4

Liability for goods
lost, stolen or injured

5 No innkeeper is liable to make good to any
person who is not registered as an occupant of a room or rooms in the
innkeeper’s inn any loss of or injury to property brought into the innkeeper’s
inn, except

(a) when
the property has been stolen, lost or injured through the default or neglect of
the innkeeper or the innkeeper’s employee, or

(b) when the property
has been deposited expressly for safe custody with the innkeeper and a check
has been issued for the property.

RSA 1980 cI‑4 s5

Posting copy of s7

6 Every innkeeper

(a) shall
keep conspicuously posted in the office of the innkeeper’s inn, and in every
bedroom ordinarily used for the accommodation of inn guests, a printed or
plainly written copy of section 7, and

(b) is entitled to the
benefit of this Act only in respect of property that is brought to the
innkeeper’s inn while the copy of section 7 is posted as required by this
section.

RSA 1980 cI‑4 s6

Liability of innkeeper

7 An innkeeper is not liable to make good to the
innkeeper’s guest any loss of or injury to property brought to the innkeeper’s
inn, except

(a) when
the property has been stolen, lost or injured through the wilful act, default
or neglect of the innkeeper or the innkeeper’s servants,

(b) when
the property, other than a vehicle, has been expressly delivered for safe
custody to the innkeeper, but the innkeeper may, if the innkeeper thinks fit,
require as a condition of the innkeeper’s liability under this clause that the
property be deposited in a box or other receptacle and fastened and sealed by
the person depositing it, or

(c) when a vehicle has
been expressly delivered into the custody of the innkeeper for storage or parking
in a place specifically reserved and designated by the innkeeper for the
storage or parking of vehicles, in which case the liability of the innkeeper
for the vehicle and its contents is that of a bailee for reward.

RSA 1980 cI‑4 s7

Failure to provide safe
custody

8(1) Subject to subsection (2), if

(a) an
innkeeper refuses to receive the property of a guest for custody, or

(b) a
guest through any default of the innkeeper is unable to deliver the property to
the innkeeper,

as mentioned in
section 7, the innkeeper is not entitled to the benefit of this Act in respect
of that property.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply and
the innkeeper is entitled to the benefit of this Act in respect of the property
referred to in subsection (1) if the innkeeper’s inn

(a) was
not equipped with a proper safe or vault, or

(b) did
not have a place for the storing or parking of vehicles,

as the case may be, and the innkeeper so informed the guest
at the time of refusing or failing to receive the property.

RSA 1980 cI‑4 s8

Penalties for
disturbance

9(1) In this section, “disturbance” means a disturbance of the
peace and quiet of the occupants of an inn by fighting, screaming, shouting,
singing or otherwise causing loud noise.

(2) A person who

(a) causes
a disturbance in an inn and, having been requested by the innkeeper or the
innkeeper’s agent to desist, continues to cause or again causes a disturbance,
or

(b) having
caused a disturbance, fails to leave the inn forthwith after being requested to
do so by the innkeeper or the innkeeper’s agent,

is guilty of an
offence and liable to a fine of not more than $500 or to imprisonment for 6
months or to both.

(3) An innkeeper or an agent of an
innkeeper who

(a) knowing
of a disturbance in the inn, fails to request the person causing the
disturbance to desist, or

(b) having
made that request and in the case of a continuation or recreation of a
disturbance, fails to request the person causing the disturbance to leave the
inn forthwith,

is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of not more
than $500 or to imprisonment for 6 months or to both.

RSA 1980 cI‑4
s9;1981 c18 s3

Arrest without warrant

10 A peace officer who finds a person committing an
offence under section 9(2) or who has reasonable and probable grounds to believe
that a person has committed an offence under section 9(2) may arrest the person
without a warrant.